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UNIVERSAL PICTURES CORPORATION 139
The films were distributed through an organization under the direction of a general sales manager in New York City. This organization included 40 exchange offices throughout the United States and Canada, each of which served a definite sales territory. The company also sold its films in the foreign market through 26 exchange offices located in the larger foreign cities ; approximately one-third of the total volume of sales was in the foreign market. The company sold to all classes of exhibitors, including those who operated large metropolitan theaters, theaters of medium size, and small rural theaters. It sold to independent exhibitors as well as to those who operated large chains. Since it released a large number of films of all types, its product was well suited for distribution to all theaters. It sold its films to many of the small exhibitors in the United States under the Universal Complete Service Plan. Under this plan, for a specified weekly rental, generally for a period of 52 consecutive weeks, the Universal Pictures Corporation supplied an exhibitor with a series of complete programs, including in each a feature film and a comedy or such short subject as he might need. Most of the contracts provided for a change of program once a week, although some provided for a change at more frequent intervals. The exhibitor was given the choice of all Universal productions except newsreels and a few pictures of exceptional quality. A great deal of attention was given to advertising and the company had for a number of years taken a column each week in the Saturday Evening Post. Through this column, the company established goodwill and a contact with the public by which many suggestions were obtained. Of the 20,000 theaters in the United States, it was estimated that 14,000 constituted the potential market for Universal films. Some theaters were so situated in competition with other theaters that it was impossible to sell to both groups. It was further estimated that approximately 1,400 of the 14,000 theaters were wired for synchronized sound reproduction; these 1,400 theaters included nearly all the larger theaters in the key cities. Many of the theaters operated by the Universal Chain Theaters Corporation were being wired. The theaters with nonsynchronous reproducing systems were estimated, in December, 1928, to be approximately 2,000 in number.1 The number of theaters with
1 No reliable data were available. The above estimate was the consensus of opinions obtained from three editors of trade publications.